Hermes Europe Railtel (HER), a subsidiary of Global TeleSystems Group (GTS), acquired a majority interest in Ebone A/S, one of the largest Internet backbone providers in Europe, for 90 million ECU.

As part of the transaction, Ebone will gain long-term capacity rights on the HER network.

Ebone is a Tier-1 Internet backbone provider based in Copenhagen,
Denmark. It serves over 90 customers (Internet Service Providers) in
22 countries. Following the acquisition, Jan Loeber, GTS's senior vice
president, HER, will be elected Ebone board chairman. Frode Greisen remains managing director.

The balance of Ebone's shares will continue to be owned by many of
Ebone's existing customers, via an association. It is expected that
members of the association will have the right to buy additional shares in
a future issuance before the end of the year, reducing HER's stake from
its current 75% to not less than 54%.

GTS is an independent telecommunications operator headquartered in
the metropolitan Washington, DC area of the United States, with offices
in London, Moscow, Budapest, Brussels, Paris, Monte Carlo, Prague, and Kiev.